Arizona Court Rejects Medical Marijuana DUI Immunity

Arizona medical marijuana cardholders are at risk of DUI for having any amount of marijuana in their system.

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that Arizona medical marijuana cardholders have no immunity from prosecution under a state DUI law which prohibits motorists from having any amount of marijuana or its chemical compound that causes impairment in their bodies.

The court stated that a cardholder can try to prove in court that they didn’t have enough of the marijuana compound THC in their system to be impaired. Arizona medical marijuana law allows DUI prosecutions of cardholders but not if amounts of marijuana compounds in their systems are insufficient to cause impairment.

Chief Justice Scott Bales stated: “The risk of uncertainty in this regard should fall on the patients, who generally know or should know if they are impaired and can control when they drive, rather than on the members of the public whom they encounter on our streets.”

Many states with medical and recreational marijuana laws allow for motorists to drive with trace amounts of marijuana in their system, as well as with inactive marijuana metabolites.